Dog is Good® Mission Statement:

Create and market stylish and clever products that celebrate and enhance the dog-human relationship.

Dog is Good® Guiding Principles:

 

About the Founders // Dog is Good® was founded by Jon Kurtz (Captain, US Navy, retired), Gila Kurtz (professional dog trainer) and J.Nichole Smith (professional pet photographer)... See more below.

All D.I.G. products are a collaboration between the three partners ( with regular inspiration from their four respective dogs, of course).

Jon Kurtz grew up mostly in Wilmington, DE. He graduated from the US Naval Academy in 1982 and determined soon after that the Navy would not be a career. True to his word, he retired after only 27 1/2 years of service with the rank of Captain. Along the way he earned master’s degrees from The George Washington University (Information Systems Management) and The US Army War College (Strategic Studies), neither of which have any applicability whatsoever to what he now does for a living.

Jon heads the Strategic Planning Committee on the Board of Directors of the Orange County Red Cross and although he is an avid triathlete, Jon has sworn it off for a few years to build the Dog is Good® business. He has been married to (his first wife) Gila for 21 years.

Gila Kurtz is a product of northern Virginia and she graduated from Virginia Tech University in 1987. When she bought Jon with her Visa card at a bid for bachelors auction in 1988 (true story), it effectively ended her teaching career. They married and proceeded to move about every 2 years until 2006 when they were able to finally settle in sunny Seal Beach, CA . Still, in addition to supporting a stressful navy lifestyle, she always had some sort of sales gig going on.

After she convinced Jon to adopt a too-young dalmatian puppy, Gila learned she really liked dogs and decided to pursue a career as a dog trainer. She immersed herself in the study and application of the science of canine behavior and quickly became the go-to dog trainer wherever she moved (much to the disappointment of the third human Kurtz family member, 13yr. old daughter Abby). Besides a crazy love of dogs, a recurring theme with Gila is that “anything worth doing is worth overdoing.”

J.Nichole Smith is a true, born-and-raised Northwest girl (well, raised anyhow, she was actually born in Arizona). In 2005, after racking up several 4.0 quarters at 4 colleges in 4 years, Nichole threw herself with wild (and somewhat reckless) abandon, into the world of self-employment. At the ripe-old age of 22, Nichole founded "dane + dane studios," a boutique pet photography and design studio. Since that time she has photographed thousands of dogs and cats, contributed to dozens of pet and lifestyle publications, co-founded a destination workshop program for aspiring pet photographers and of course, has happily designed a whole lot of Dog is Good® stuff.

In April of 2011 she and her kids, Harlequin Great Dane "Olivia" and French Bulldog "Charleston" re-located from Seattle to sunny SoCal to spend more time working on Dog is Good® (and at the beach, of course!)

 

About the Product // All new apparel products are tested for the five Dog is Good® exacting standards:

fashion, fit, originality, affordability and comfort.

The most major ingredient in Dog is Good® as a company and each product individually, is Dogvergnügen. Capturing the essence of the dog-human relationship, the great feeling dog lovers often have when they are with their beloved pets, is the kernel of our existence.  We thought for a long time about how to succinctly convey the feeling.  There is no word in the American lexicon to describe it, so we turned to a combination of both german and english and made it up: Dogvergnügen.

The Idea // Jon and Gila Kurtz always knew their future involved running their own business. While living in WA state (circa 2005), Jon, an active duty US Navy Captain and Gila, a professional dog trainer, saw a void in the marketplace, and subsequently, an opportunity.

Gila had long complained about a lack of fun and fashionable clothing that she could wear which expressed her love of dogs. Jon, who could have cared less about women’s clothing saw a chance to inject his brand of humor into what he classified as a new favorite oxymoron, a “really big niche.” In this case, a brand that celebrates and seeks to improve the dog-human relationship in a way that people can relate to.

Full of ideas and energy, they decided they could make a good run at it. Thinking of the myriad possibilities for irreverent humor and plays on words, Jon suggested changing “God is Good “to “Dog is Good®.” They knew it was a winning idea. They got started.

As fate would have it, J.Nichole Smith, a young and entrepreneurial pet photographer + designer was also living in the “booming metropolis” of Poulsbo, WA. Her photography caught Gila's attention, and after they had referred clients back and forth, they got to know each other a little better. Gila and Jon shared their idea for "Dog is Good®" with Nichole - who immediately identified the concept as “brilliant.” Jon liked that Nichole liked his ideas. His name and the word “brilliant” had never before been used in the same sentence. Nichole quickly became the 3rd partner.

The Navy moved the Kurtz family to Seal Beach, CA in September of 2006. It would be a few months before they could resume the D.I.G. journey and they did so by promoting a few very simple "Dog is Good®" inscribed hats + tees. Their friends liked it. Confidence grew. Now if they only had a sensational logo to go with their sensational company name...

The logo // Jon, Gila and Nichole were all on the same wavelength about what the "Dog is Good®" dog should represent. They agreed the perfect logo would be cute, irreverent, playful, and should have a slight allusion to the "God" /"Dog" connection.

Nichole flew down to CA and together they spent days searching for inspiration, but nothing clicked.  They all knew they needed that "magical" logo by the time Nichole returned to Seattle (only 3 days remained). The pressure was on.

As the hours dwindled, Nichole was experiencing a complete creative block, when she took a moment to demonstrate her computer illustration program to Jon. In a quick, abstract motion, Nichole scribbled a couple of lines on the screen, and then deleted them. In that quick scribble, Jon had seen the ear of the future "Bolo" logo.  Nichole “resurrected” the scribble and completed the dog face and floppy ear - she added simple rounded eyes, a giant nose and a canted halo for good measure. After immediately sending their new character out to their friends and family for feedback, the answer was clear: "Bolo" the dog was perfect.

Testing // Smart enough to recognize their own limitations, the D.I.G. crew created a few more tees in a few more colors and sold them exclusively at dog walk and pet adoption events in Orange County and LA County (and a few events in Seattle) for a year.  Feedback was good.  Volume and cash flow were not.  They decided it was time to start selling to retailers and in Fall of 2008, D.I.G. made its first appearance at a trade show: SuperZoo, in Las Vegas.

Buyers loved the D.I.G. products and philosophy, and so did the media. Dog is Good® was invited to include their tees in the 2008 Emmy Award Gift Baskets, their "Dog is Green" design was selected as the VIP gift for buyers at Pet Fashion Week and their "DIG Bling tee" was picked as "Editor's Choice" by Modern Dog Magazine., The future looked very promising.

Growing //  In 2009, as the economy cratered, D.I.G. continued to grow.  They attended two trade shows in 2009, H.H. Backer in Chicago and again, SuperZoo in Las Vegas. They finished what they consider to be their first  full year of business with gross sales in excess of $250K.  It was then that they realized they found that more than just the retailers in the pet industry liked their stuff.  So they expanded the reach of their trade shows and in 2010 “worked” the gift shows.  And things went well.  

D.I.G. is expanding its reach into other countries and other product categories through licensing agreements, a growing base of retailers and retail buyers, and a growing a sales force of independent reps in the US and Canada.